Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Akram al-Rikhawi, who has now been on
hunger strike for 91 days is unable to move his left leg and is at risk
of dying, his lawyer and doctor both reported Monday.

Hunger strikes highlight abuses source:Samidoun

Al-Rikhawi,
who is married with eight children, was sentenced to 9 years in prison
by an Israeli military tribunal after being stopped by Israeli military
forces near Rafa in 2004.

Since being imprisoned he has been denied access to his medication which has led to severe health complications.

Al-Rikhawi’s lawyer also visited another Palestinian prisoner on hunger
strike. Sami al-Barq has been imprisoned without charge for 2 years. He
has been on hunger strike for 48 days.

More than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners began a hunger strike in April to
protest against illegal arrest procedures, poor prison conditions and
administrative detention where Palestinians, including many children,
can be held indefinitely without trial

The hunger strikes have received widespread international publicity and
have served to highlight the treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli
occupation forces. Israel’s treatment of prisoners has been broadly
condemned, with one UN expert saying he was “appalled” by the ongoing
human rights violations in Israeli prisons. In all, 178 decisions have
been issued by the UN condemning Israel for its serious mistreatment of
Palestinian prisoners since 1967.

Break the Chains.info

is a news and discussion forum for supporters of political prisoners, prisoners of war, politicized social prisoners, and victims of police and state intimidation.

This blog is organized and updated autonomously of the disbanded Break the Chains Prisoner Support Network formerly based in Eugene, Oregon. While this online project shares several of the same concerns as the old Break the Chains collective, no formal organization exists behind the current web presence.

"I will never surrender my pride and dignity nor allow the system to 'cut my tongue' and I will always, without fear, speak out against these war crimes and crimes against humanity, no matter if I spend the rest of my life in a prison cage, and draw my last breath of air laying down in this steel bed surrounded by razor-wire fences and cages, and its prison policies that are designed to destroy one's humanity…."